Guiding devices in cigarette handling machines



Nov. 1, 1966 A. SCHMERMUND GUIDING DEVICES IN CIGARETTE HANDLINGMACHINES Filed Oct. 21, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ALFRED SCHHERHUND4M1: flwle ATTORNEYS Nov. 1, 1966 A. SCHMERMUND 3,282,443

GUIDING DEVICES IN CIGARETTE HANDLING MACHINES Filed Oct. 21, 1964 5Sheets-Sheet 2 uwsm'on ALFRED ScHnEnnu/w ATTORNEYS GUIDING DEVICES INCIGARETTE HANDLING MACHINES Filed Oct. 21, 1964 1966 A. SCHMERMUND 5Sheets-Sheet :5

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ALTRE'D SLHHERMUND By: 91% /hm ATTORNEYS United States Patent GUIDINGDEVICES IN CIGARETTE HANDLING MACHINES Alfred Schmermund, 62Kornerstrasse, Gevelsberg, Westphalia, Germany Filed Oct. 21, 1964, Ser.No. 405,498

Claims priority, application Great Britain, Oct. 23, 1963,

41,800/ 63 8 Claims. (Cl. 214-1) The invention relates to guidingdevices in cigarette handling machines, for example cigarette packingmachines.

A cigarette feeding arrangement in a cigarette packing or handlingmachine has been proposed in which a plu rality of cigarettes are pushedby a ram having a plurality of fingers, from chutes at the bottom of acigarette supply hopper, into a transition member and are thence pushedinto and through a guiding device which is laterally moved while thecigarettes are contained therein. By means of the guiding device thedischarge path for the cigarettes from the guiding device can be offsetrelative to the entry path for the cigarettes into the guiding device.

The chute walls at the bottom of the cigarette supply hopper have afinite thickness and the cigarettes must have sufiicient clearance fromthe chute walls in order to be able to fall freely therein. This meansthat the group of cigarettes, hereinafter termed cigarette bloc fed fromthe chutes by the ram, is rather loose and must be laterally compressedbefore packing. Feeding of the cigarette block through narrowing guidesresults only in a small compression, if damage to the cigarettes is tobe avoided.

It is an object of the invention to provide a guiding device for acigarette handling machine, which device while guiding the cigarettesfrom one operating station to another effectively compacts the cigaretteblocks.

It is another object of the invention to provide such a device which issimple and yet reliable in use.

Those and other objects and advantages of the invention will becomeclear to those skilled in the art from the following description whenread with reference to the appended drawings which are given by way ofexample, and in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a guiding device of the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a part of the device of FIG. 1 but in a differentoperational position;

FIG. 3 is a plan view, partly in section, of the device when in thepositions of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view, partly in section and partly broken away,of a modified device.

The guiding device illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 is intended for usein a cigarette packing or handling machine, and comprises threerelatively movable parts 1, 2 and 3. One of the parts, namely part 1, isof generally box shaped form having a bottom opening, another part 2 isof inverted U-shape and is disposed within the box shaped part 1,and'the third part 3 is of inverted T-shape, its stem 4 cooperating withthe limbs 5 of the inverted U-shaped part 2 to define two cells 6 and 7,and its web 8 being disposed in the bottom opening of the box shapedpart 1. The ends of the web 8 co-operate with the margins 11 and 12 ofthe bottom opening of the box shaped part 1 so that depending on therelative position of the said parts, either a slit 13 is left free incell 7 and closed in cell 6 when the device is in the position of FIG.1, or a slit 14 is left in cell 6 and closed in cell 7 when the deviceis in the position of FIG. 2.

The relatively movable parts 1, 2 and 3 have mounting blocks 15, 16, 17integral therewith, the part 1 having two mounting blocks 15, the part 2having two mounting blocks 16, and the part 3 having one mounting block17.

The parts 1, 2 and 3 are secured by the mounting blocks 15, 16 and 17 tothree slide rods 21, 22 and 23 which are slidably guided in a frame 18.The mounting blocks 15, 16, 17 have guide projections 24 which run inslideways 25 of the frame 18. The slide rods 21, 22 and 23 each have alateral stud 26 which is in engagement with a forked end 27 of apivotally mounted operating lever 28. Each lever 28 is rigid with a pairof cam follower levers 31 carrying rollers 32 which engage earns 33, thecams 33 being so phased that each operating lever 28 is positivelylocated for either direction of movement.

The earns 33 are arranged individually to reciprocate the relativelymovable parts 1, 2 and 3 of the guiding device in such a manner that theguiding device as a whole reciprocates between two end portions, ofwhich one is illustrated in FIG. 1 and the other in FIGS. 2 and 3.

I When in the end position of FIG. 1, the cell 6 of the guiding deviceis at position A1 and is relatively wide and the slit at the bottom ofthe cell 6 is closed, whereas the other cell 7 is in position B and isnarrower and its slit 13 is open. When in the other end position ofFIGS. 2 and 3, the cell 7, which now is in position A2, is relativelywide and the slit at the bottom of the cell 7 is closed, whereas thecell 6 is at position B and is narrower and its slit 14 is open. Foreither end position, the narrow cell is at position B and is in registerwith a discharge path (not shown) into which cigarettes are to bedischarged from the cell, whereas the wide cell in each case is inposition A1 or A2 respectively and is in register with a supply pathfrom which cigarette blocks are fed to the respective cell. A singledischarge path serves the cell 7 when in the position B of FIG. 1 andalso serves the cell 6 when in the position B of FIGS. 2 and 3. Contrarythereto, two supply paths are provided, one serving the cell 6 when inthe position A1 of FIG. 1 and the other serving the cell 7 when in theposition A2 of FIGS. 2 and 3. The supply paths are defined by narrowingguides 34 one of which is illustrated in FIG. 3. Cigarette blocks (notshown) are pushed through the narrowing guides 34 and thus subjected toa precompression into a wide cell. A final compression takes place as aresult of the narrowing of the cell on movement from the position ofregistration with a supply path into a position of registration with thedischarge path.

It will be appreciated that in either end position of the guide device awide cell is disposed in front of a supply path whereas a narrow cell isdisposed in front of the discharge path. Thus, when two suitably spacedsupply paths are used, the guiding device brings the cigarette blockstherefrom into the common discharge path, having compressed thecigarette block during the lateral transit. At the same time the slit 13or 14 at the bottom of the relevant cell is opened so as to allowremoval of the cigarette block by means of a pushing member (not shown)having a support web which extends through the open slit. The relativelymovable parts 1, 2, 3 are so dimensioned and the earns 33 are soarranged that the slit at the bottom of the cell when in the dischargeposition is opened only shortly before the discharge position isreached. Thereby it is ensured that the cigarettes are not damaged bypossibly encountering an open slit during pressing of the cigarettestogether.

Modifications of the embodiment described are possible. For example, thedevice may comprise more than two cells. FIG. 4 illustrates such adevice having four cells 106, 107, 156 and 157. Cigarette blocks 158 and159 are ready for discharge from cells 107 and 157 respectively. Theguide rods 121, 122 and 123 carry respectively two parts 101, two parts102 and two parts 103. In other respects is the device of FIG. 4 similarto that of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, similar parts being indicated in FIG. 4with reference numerals analogous to those of FIGS. 1,

3 2 and 3 but preceded by the digit 1. It is believed that FIG. 4 doesnot require any further detailed description.

The device of FIG. 4 is suitable for use in certain twin packingmachines for cigarettes in which two series of cigarette blocks arepacked simultaneously.

I claim:

1. For a cigarette handling machine, a device for guiding blocks ofcigarettes from a first station to a second station and compacting thecigarettes, the device comprising:

a first, outer, member including first and second portions of a firstwall, said first and second portions forming a gap between them,

a second wall opposite said first wall,

a second, inner, member including a third wall, and a fourth wall, saidthird and fourth walls extending between said first and second walls,

a third member including a third portion of said first wall and apartition wall extending between said first and second walls, said thirdportion being carried by said partition wall and located within said gapto form two cells separated from each other by said partition wall, saidthird portion being narrower than said gap to form a slit between saidthird portion and said first portion when said third portion iscontiguous wit-h said second portion and to form another slit betweensaid third portion and said second portion when said third portion iscontiguous with said first portion, and

means for moving said third member through a greater distance than saidfirst member and moving said second member through a greater distancethan said third member to vary the width of each of said two cellsbetween a wide and a narrow condition and to provide a slit only in acell when in its narrow condition.

2. A device as defined in claim 1, wherein said moving means comprisefirst, second and third slida-ble guide rods, and first, second andthird mounting block-s carried respectively by said first, second andthird members and mounted respectively on said first, second and thirdguide rods for moving therewith.

3. A device as defined in claim 2, and comprising levers and cam means,said guide rods being engaged by said levers which are movable by saidcam means.

4. A device as defined in claim 3, and comprising a plurality of pairsof cam follower levers, and a plurality of rollers mounted at the endsof said follower levers, said movable levers each carrying a pair ofsaid roller-ended cam follower levers which engage a pair of said camswhich are of opposite throw, whereby said first, second and third arepositively located in both directions of movement.

5. A device as defined in claim 1, wherein said .first station for onecell is different from said first station for the other cell, a commonsecond station being allocated to said two cells, each cell beingreciprocatable between its first station and said common second station.

6. A device as defined in claim 5, wherein the device is reciprocatableby controlled reciprocations of said first, second and third members,the paths of reciprocation for the said movable members being such thateach cell is brought from its wide condition into its narrow conditionon movement from its first station to said second station.

7. A device as defined in claim ll, wherein said first, second and thirdmembers respectively comprise a generally box-shaped part having abottom opening, a generally inverted U-shaped part having limbs andbeing laterally movable within said box shaped part, said limbs definingthe outer margins of said cells, and an inverted T-shaped part having astem and a web carried by said stern, said stem defining the innermargins of said cells and said web being disposed in said bottom openingof said box shaped part, the ends of said web cooperating with edges ofsaid bottom opening to alternately form a slit at said cooperating ends.

8. A guiding device for a cigarette handling machine, comprising a firstgenerally box-shaped member having an opening in one side thereof, asecond generally U-shaped member having a base and two limbs and beingmovably arranged within said first member, said limbs being directedtowards said one side of said first member, a third generally T-shapedmember having a stem and a web carried by said stem, said web beingarranged substantially within said opening in said one side of saidfirst member and being smaller than said opening in the direction fromone of said limbs to the other one of said limbs to allow relativemovement in said direction between said third member and said firstmember, said stern being housed within said first and second members anddirected towards said base, said first, second and third membersdefining a first cell between one of said limbs and said stem and asecond cell between the other one of said limbs and said stem, and meansfor reciprocating said first, second and third members in saiddirection, reciprocations of said third member being of a greater strokethan those of said first member and reciprocations of said second memberbeing of a greater stroke than those of said third member to vary thewidth of each of said two cells in the said direction between a wide anda narrow condition and to provide a slit only in a cell when in itsnarrow condition.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,163,320 12/1915Chartrand 53-124 1,539,745 5/1925 Kerlin 53124 1,608,163 11/1926Bronander 53124 2,209,110 7/1940 Chambers 53124 MARVIN A. CHAMPION,Primary Examiner.

1. FOR A CIGARETTE HANDLING MACHINE, A DEVICE FOR GUIDING BLOCKS OFCIGARETTES FROM A FIRST STATION TO A SECOND STATION AND COMPACTING THECIGARETTES, THE DEVICE COMPRISING: A FIRST, OUTER, MEMBER INCLUDINGFIRST AND SECOND PORTIONS OF A FIRST WALL, SAID FIRST AND SECONDPORTIONS FORMING A GAP BETWEEN THEM, A SECOND WALL OPPOSITE SAID FIRSTWALL, A SECOND, INNER, MEMBER INCLUDING A THIRD WALL, AND A FOURTH WALL,SAID THIRD AND FOURTH WALLS EXTENDING BETWEEN SAID FIRST AND SECONDWALLS, A THIRD MEMBER INCLUDING A THIRD PORTION OF SAID FIRST WALL AND APARTITION WALL EXTENDING BETWEEN SAID FIRST AND SECOND WALLS, SAID THIRDPORTION BEING CARRIED BY SAID PARTITION WALL AND LOCATED WITHIN SAID GAPTO FORM TWO CELLS SEPARATED FROM EACH OTHER BY SAID PARTITION WALL, SAIDTHIRD PORTION BEING NARROWER THAN SAID TAP TO FORM A SLIT BETWEEN SAIDTHIRD PORTION AND SAID FIRST PORTION WHEN SAID THIRD PORTION ISCONTIGUOUS WITH SAID SECOND PORTION AND TO FORM ANOTHER SLIT BETWEENSAID THIRD PORTION AND SAID SECOND PORTION WHEN SAID THIRD PORTION ISCONTIGUOUS WITH SAID FIRST PORTION, AND MEANS FOR MOVING SAID THIRDMEMBER THROUGH A GREATER DISTANCE THAN SAID FIRST MEMBER AND MOVING SAIDSECOND MEMBER THROUGH A GREATER DISTANCE THAN SAID THIRD MEMBER TO VARYTHE WIDTH OF EACH OF SAID TWO CELLS BETWEEN A WIDE AND A NARROWCONDITION AND TO PROVIDE A SLIT ONLY IN A CELL WHEN IN ITS NARROWCONDITION.